NSU's Adkins added to football watch list

2014-06-10T02:51:47Z2014-06-17T02:51:04Z

NATCHITOCHES, LA (NSU Sports Information) -

Northwestern State's Zach
Adkins, last year's Southland Conference Newcomer of the Year after a
record-breaking junior season with the Demons, has been named to the 2014
College Football Performance Awards Watch List as one of the top 36
quarterbacks at the Division I FCS level.

The
Riverside, Calif., native helped NSU finish 6-6 overall and 3-4 last fall in
the Southland as the Demons won three of their last four games, showing steady
improvement in the second half of the season. NSU opened with a victory at
Missouri State, which finished third in the highly-regarded Missouri Valley
Conference, and blasted Southwestern Athletic Conference West Division champion
Southern to open the home schedule.

Adkins transferred from Riverside City College and set seven single-season
Demon records, including total offense, points responsible for, passing yards,
touchdown passes, and completion percentage.

He completed 247 of 382 passes for 2,725 yards and 21 touchdowns. His
completion percentage of 64.7 ranked 23rd in the FCS, while his yardage total
ranked 20th nationally. His pass yardage total broke Scott Stoker's 25-year-old
school record of 2,393 and his touchdown passes topped a 45-year-old standard
of 16 set by Don Guidry in 1968. His 64.7 completion percentage topped the
previous mark of 61.7 set by Brad Henderson in 2011.

Adding his 224 yards rushing and three touchdowns, Adkins (2,950 total yards,
24 touchdowns for 144 points) shattered Stoker's 1988 total offense school mark
of 2,559 yards and Guidry's 1968 mark of 114 points rushing and passing. He set
new marks for pass attempts and completions while suffering only nine
interceptions, one every 42 attempts.

He had two 300-yard games, including 331 against Southern in his second game
and a season-high 333, 10th best in school history, in a 40-27 win against
Stephen F. Austin in the season finale. He threw three touchdowns in a game
four times and completed at least one touchdown pass in his final six games of
the year.

Adkins is the second Northwestern State player to be named to the 2014 CFPA
positional watch lists, following senior cornerback Imoan Claiborne.

"Congratulations to Zach Adkins on joining Imoan Claiborne on this
year's watch list," said CFPA Executive Director Brad Smith. "Adkins
played an important role in Northwestern State's offense, which averaged
5.5 yards per play last season -- the highest average for the team since
2004."

Adkins is one of five
quarterbacks from the Southland Conference on the latest CFPA watch list,
joined by last year's Southland Player of the Year, Bryan Bennett of
Southeastern Louisiana, along with Trent Brittain of Incarnate Word, Caleb
Berry from Lamar, and Nicholls State's Tuskani Figaro.

The goal of College Football Performance Awards is to provide the most
scientifically rigorous conferment in college football. Recipients are selected
exclusively based upon objective scientific rankings of the extent to which
individual players increase the overall effectiveness of their teams.
Twenty-eight CFPA winners have been first-round NFL Draft selections.

The CFPA is in its seventh season, analyzing player performance
and team success with objective rankings from its data index since 2008.

Last season, Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston earned the CFPA National
Performer of the Year Trophy at the FBS level, while Eastern Washington
quarterback Vernon Adams earned the CFPA FCS National Performer of the Year
Trophy.

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